Red
by WinkytheUnwillingFreeElf
Summary: Victoria is famously known as the vampire who tracked Bella Swan wanting revenge for Victoria's mate, James. But everyone has their story and this villain's might be different than you would have thought.


Edward Cullen caught my unprotected back at the edge of the tree line and with one last simple step, our deadly dance was over. My life was coming to a halt, but still my past experiences flashed before my eyes. My father's ugly pockmarked face glaring at me, James's daring eyes meeting mine as my body slowly burned from the inside out, my jealousy at Bella for having everything I never did. They were all there, pulling me into the river of my past.

My father leered down at me as I crouched to pick up the shattered remains of the tea pot I had dropped. "You stupid, girl!" He screamed, his face turning a terrible shade of red. I looked up and met his eyes. He bent slightly and slapped my cheek hard, so hard it would make a grown man cringe. I fell on the floor and curled in on myself.

"That tea pot was given to me by one of the finest lords in all of England! And look at what you've done, you little wench!" He reached down and pulled my head up by the roots of my hair. "You make me sick!" He spat in my face, and slapped me again.

The room spun in front of my eyes. I covered my head with my arms and cowered into the floor. "Please Pappa! I didn't mean to, I swear! Please stop!"

My father kicked me in the ribs and backed away. "I'm selling the putrid dolls your mother made for you before she died to pay for a new tea pot. That will be your punishment, along with anything else I do after I return. Don't do anything stupid, Victoria. Or you punishment will be ten times worse than it already is." He grabbed his cloak from the back of a chair and stormed out of our small cottage, slamming the rickety door behind him.

My body shook with sobs. I was only nine years old.

The men crowded around my London corner, whispering things like: "Look at that hair. There's nothing like a red-head in the bedroom." and "You'll like a night with me, girl. Come home with me." The attention made me flustered, but I had grown up in a home where I was taught that I had absolutely no worth at all, so I treasured the attention with all of my being. I had left my abusive father's home at the age of fourteen, and had been living off the streets of London ever since. That had been four years ago.

A man traced his finger down my bare arm. He was middle-aged with wise eyes and an elaborate tunic. I'd bet my favorite pair of shoes that he was married. "How much for the night, girl? I'll make it worth your while." He whispered into my ear, his lips dangerously close. I brought my lips closer to his, a breath separating them. He thought that I was going to kiss him, but I didn't. I pulled back and smirked at him, watching his eyes as desire burned in him like a great forest fire.

"Five shillings." I said to both him and the rest of the crowd. " A night with me costs five shillings, and if you want my opinion, that's quite a bargain." I winked and they all laughed. The crowd surged on me, some telling me that if I picked them, they'd pay even more than the five shillings, others begging me to lower the price.

I had been through this all before. Now that I had them all in the palm of my hand, I would choose the one that I found the most desirable. Because under the coy and flirty eighteen year old woman on the surface, there was a girl that just wanted to be loved and to forget her terrible past.

I surveyed them all, weighing one's characteristics against another's. Tonight's group was not promising and I feared I would have to settle. Just as I was about to agree to the middle-aged man, I caught sight of him. He was at the back of the crowd, leaning against a building and looking bemused at the hubbub. His dark brown hair was pulled back and his skin was pale as snow in moonlight. His face was perfectly sculpted like a Greek sculpture, but his eyes were the most intriguing aspect of all. They were a rich, dark red, filled with secrets and promises. Him.

I pushed through the crowd to the man and held out a hand. He dropped five shillings into my open palm and offered his arm. I slipped the silver into the purse at my belt. "What's your name?" I said conversationally as we walked away, leaving the crowd open-mouthed and wide-eyed behind us.

"James." The man answered with a not-quite smile.

James stood over me as I writhed in pain on the bed in his small apartment. A scream welled up in my throat, but I held it back, knowing that I couldn't risk alarming the neighbors.

I was on fire, but there were no visible flames. They were all inside of me, licking and devouring my muscles, bone, and tissues. My eyes rolled back in my head as the fire and pain increased. There was no way I could live through this, how could I?

"Why?" I spat at James through my clenched teeth. My fingers dug into the bed's coverlet, trying to gain control over anything in this situation. He just tilted his head and gave me his not-quite smile.

The pain increased again and I found it impossible to think beyond it.

I stood in front of the mirror in James's apartment. My already red hair had become brighter, fuller, and longer, reaching to my waist and falling in perfect curls. My body was more curvaceous than it had been three days ago and my skin had turned snow white and hard as granite. But the biggest change was my eyes. My eyes that had resembled the waters of the western ocean were now a bright, glowing red. I stepped back in fright.

James came up behind me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Welcome to a new life, Victoria. A life where you aren't a slave to anyone. A life where revenge comes as easily as breathing." That not-quite smile graced his face.

An idea came to mind, and once it was there, I couldn't suppress it. I met James's eyes in the mirror. "My father." I returned my gaze back to my reflection. "He needs to pay."

I leaned over my father. He had stumbled over himself when I had broken down the door to his cottage. "Hello, Pappa. Miss me?" I whispered dangerously.

His eyes widened. "Victoria?"

I smiled wickedly. "That's right, Pappa." I reached down and grabbed the front of his shirt, hoisting him into the air. His feet weren't touching the ground. He whimpered.

"What happened to you?" He said in horror.

"I'm better than I ever was." I replied. "Now you have been a very bad man." I slapped him with a small fraction of my strength. A purple mark marred his face and he groaned. I dropped him and he hit the floor with a thud. It took him a few moments to realize what was happening, but he sat up and started crawling backward as soon as he could.

I grabbed the tea pot off the table. "Was this worth it? Worth selling the only items I had of my mother?" I threw it as his legs. He gave a shriek of pain. I snatched the broom from where it leaned against the wall. "And how about this? All the times you used this to 'punish' me for not bringing your food fast enough, or when you were frustrated no woman in her right mind would look twice at you." I broke the broom into two pieces by cracking it on my knee, wood splintered everywhere from the speed of which I did it. I threw the pieces at him. "Fourteen years! Fourteen years you put me through this torture!"

"Victoria!" He screamed. "Stop! I am your father!"

That stopped me. "Stop?" I whispered. I used the extent of my super speed and appeared in front of him. He flinched away. I crouched down so that our eyes were level; I was no longer that scared girl who cowered on the floor as her father abused her for nothing. I grabbed his chin between my granite fingers and squeezed. "You've been bad, Pappa. And this is your punishment." I slammed his head into the ground, using all of my strength.

I didn't kid myself that James loved me. He loved that I was loyal to him and would follow him to the ends of the Earth. He loved that he wasn't alone and that there was a person who would help him achieve whatever mission he was on. But I loved James. I loved the way his hair flowed behind him as we ran. I loved his drive, his passion, his need to keep everything to himself. I loved the curve of his lips when he kissed me and the way he always believed in my decisions and abilities. James filled the emptiness in my heart that my father created.

Jealousy ripped through me as I walked across the clearing with James and Laurent. The dark haired female and the male had a connection I would never have with James. I knew that with a glance and hated it with everything in my being. The coven gathered together and Laurent said the appropriate things, but I didn't pay attention to any of it. I hated them. They had what I never would and I hated them.

I sat in a tree, wishing that there was some way immortals could cry. The sadness within me was unbearable and it was choking me. They had killed James. The only person who has ever shown me anything close love, the person who had saved me, was now gone from this world.

I traced a heart with a J and V in it on the trunk of the tree with my fingernail. Juvenile maybe, but it helped lessen the sadness, for a portion of a second.

A twig snapped below me, and I was instantly on guard. I stood and readied myself to leap onto whoever was below me. I hadn't hunted in several days, so depressed I was over James's death. I realized just how thirsty I was and almost hoped that it was a human, maybe a hiker strayed off their path or a teenager running away. No matter, both would do.

Laurent stepped out of the bushes on the right side of my tree. I grunted in disappointment and dropped to land beside him. "What are you doing here, traitor?" I snarled at him, slipping into a fighting stance.

"Peace, Victoria. I found that being a vegetarian is boring and uncomfortable. What are _you_ doing here?" He leaned up against the tree trunk, totally comfortable in his surroundings.

"Planning revenge." I spat. I straightened to my full height and hoped my eyes conveyed just how much I loathed him.

His eyes flashed and a smile crept onto his face. "Now, I think I may be of some use to you."

I felt my eyes widen in surprise. "Oh really..."

Riley and I had our arms around each other in a dark alley in Seattle, Washington. He kissed with a passion that was quite great for someone of his youth and I found it appealing.

"I love you, Victoria." He murmured against my neck. What was I to say to that? I had to admit, I had a certain fondness for the boy, but how could I say that I loved him when my one true love had been unjustly killed. James owned my heart and soul in every possible way and I couldn't bring myself to deny him in that way. On the other hand, James never truly did love me as a person. He loved what I could offer him, not who I was.

I met Riley's eyes and smiled. "I love you too."

He held me tighter. "Forever?"

"Forever." I agreed. And maybe after I avenged James, it would be true.

This all went through my mind in the time it takes to take a breath. Edward brought his lips toward my neck and I sent out silent farewells. _Goodbye, James. I'm sorry I couldn't avenge you _and _Goodbye, Riley. I'm sorry I wasn't truthful and that we both met our ends before we could be together truly. _The fire ripped through my body from my neck. It seemed that my beginning in this life would be just like the end. The fire became hotter, burning through me, Edward, and the rest of the world.


End file.
